The feelings of climate change

As we approach the end of mental health month, I want to challenge you to do something uncomfortable. Today I took some time to sit down and reflect on the mental toll climate change has on me personally. My therapist recently showed me a tool called ‘the feelings wheel’. This is a tool used to help describe feelings and emotions without using the same common emotions that we think of such as happiness, sadness, anger or fearfulness. The idea is to better articulate your feelings so you can get better help. I decided to print out a blank wheel of the feelings to color in the parts that related to my feelings towards climate change and its impact on the world. Surprisingly, I had a good chunk of all the words colored in. I think shows how complex this climate crisis is, that it can invoke so many different emotions.

I’ve attached a blank feeling wheel along in case you want to try this experiment for yourself. I know it helped me work through some of my own emotions. It felt good to sit down and acknowledge these feelings.

The Feelings Wheel. Originated from The brainchild of Dr. Gloria Willcox, the Feelings Wheel can help us in numerous situations.

So, here’s how I feel about climate change. I’ve bolded the words that I took from the wheel and have divided the statements across the 7 main emotions.

SAD

I feel sad about climate change, it makes me feel depressed and empty to watch islands sink and forest burn.

I feel embarrassed to be a part of a species that puts wealth and “success” above our own survival.

I often feel despair watching and reading the news.

I feel grief so intensely for those places and species we’ve already lost and those places I’ll never get to see.

I feel grief for the world I grew up in because it’s already gone.

Grief for those homes and cultures that have drowned in rising sea levels and those sacred traditions that have been lost with it.

DISGUST

I am completely disgusted by our attempt to combat, mitigate, and prevent climate change.

I disapprove of the complacency we have as a country. We should be at the forefront of this issue, and we continue to make it a background topic.

It embarrasses me that it’s taken at such a low priority when there’s so much at stake.

I’m disappointed by those in power that took oaths to protect us. I’m appalled by their excuses.

It’s an awful feeling to feel the weather gradually increase with each season feeling the impacts of climate change as you grow up as if the planet is growing with you.

I feel awful and confused when I can’t remember what month it is because today feels like Summer but last week felt like Autumn. It messes with you physically to bear the unpredictability of the weather, and mentally when you must constantly try to remember what time of year it is.

I’m nauseated by the lack of urgency from everyone, especially by the multi-billionaires and top 100 companies that could easily invest in carbon reduction.

I am repelled to those who greenwash and use the words: sustainable or eco-friendly in dishonesty. I am appalled by their ability to prey on the concerned and vulnerable.

I’m horrified about my future, the decision to have children, the impact of my life, the decision I must make.

ANGRY

I am more than angry or mad. I am furious at those people who make a conscious decision to look the other way because they think it won’t affect them. How do you explain to someone to care about other people and creatures? I shouldn’t have to explain that you should care about other people outside of yourself.

Every day I feel more distant to the world how much can one person take on and take in?

I’m withdrawn from the documentaries that my friends tell me to watch. I already know how bad it is, but to see the actual animals dying, the trash in the rivers, the fish drowning from plastic pollution, the native people being plucked out of their homes once again. It’s too much for me to bear. I can read, write, and speak about climate change but to watch it happen in a cute little documentary is something I don’t let myself do. I know I will spiral.

I’ve become numb to those ‘let’s go out there and make a change!’ conversations most of the time if I’m being transparent. I know those people mean well, but it ends in disappointment. Sometimes I disassociate as a self-preservation mechanism.

I’m provoked by those people who don’t believe in the severity of the problem. I try to be understanding with everyone, but I don’t understand.

I find myself hostile to people a word I never thought I’d use to describe myself.

FEARFUL

I’m glad there’s more intense words for fear because that doesn’t do this feeling justice.

I’m scared for my friends who have babies.

I feel helpless the more I learn about climate change I’m starting to know how much of an impact we’ve made in such a short span of time.

My anxiety only gets more intense with each passing day.

I’m overwhelmed by the numbers that are constantly thrown in my face. The data the CO2, the methane, the carbon conversions, the carbon credits, net zero, net neutral, net positive, net negative. I wish I didn’t have to know what all the shorthand was for.

I’m worried for the farmers, the growers, the houseless. Those that rely on the outdoors for a livelihood or shelter as the weather becomes more unpredictable.

I feel a deep weakness to the Earth. She will always prevail, and we’ll just be a speck of sand on the natural history timeline of this world what a weak species we are.

I feel insignificant in the circle of life.

BAD

I feel bad all the time. that I have contributed to the destruction of this planet.

I’m stressed watching my garden fluctuate unnaturally each season.

The whole world just feels out of control.

And maybe more than anything I’m tired and don’t know what kind of rest could fix this feeling.

I’m startled to hear that the island nations are already sinking that people are already migrating to different places because of rising sea levels.

I’m astonished by our sad excuses for global action. The Montreal Protocol, The Kyoto Protocol, The Paris Agreement, COP28 Summit, they are not enough.

HAPPY

I’m eager to learn, educate, speak, cry and scream. I’m ready to do whatever it takes to help.

I’m interested in all the studies being done.

I feel inquisitive that someone somewhere much smarter than me has figured out an answer to all of this.

I feel valued by those people I have worked with to make small changes; people value my opinion on the topic which makes me feel good.

Sometimes I feel courageous and talk back when I know something is unjust.

I feel sensitive about my shared home and my planet. I feel a deep sense of protection over her.

Lastly, I feel inspired by those people in my own community who are making a difference. I am inspired by their resilience and this difficult time.

thanks to the calm app for the blank feelings wheel and resources on how to use it.